The Housing First advocacy started in Poland in 2013 and was led by homelessness experts involved with FEANTSA. beginning in 2019 two EU funded pilot programmes were kicked-off in three towns. Up to date about 183 people had a chance to take part in a HF based programme run by six operators including NGOs and municipalities. New opportunities are opening with the EU programming period of 2021-27.

In 2016 the findings of the Housing First – Evidence Based Advocacy project showed that among the homeless population there was a substantial group of people whose needs were not addressed despite them using services. Their profiles were coherent with HF customers. 

In 2019 the Centre for European Projects included HF as a priority in a tender for transferring innovations from abroad. Two partnerships were established: in Warsaw with the Housing Policy Office of the Municipality led by the Cooperation Fund Foundation, Housing First Poland Foundation and Y-Saatio and also in Warsaw, Wrocław and Gdańsk led by the Saint Brother Albert Association, Polish National Federation for Solving Homelessness and Casas Primerias. The projects resulted in 70 people being supported, two HF guidebooks and local acts on Housing First in three towns.

The current government is open to pro-housing advocacy of all groups in need including people with disabilities, mental health problems, leaving care, leaving prisons, senior citizens and experiencing homelessness. A “Small reform” of the Social Welfare Act is promised including adjustments of standards for services for people experiencing homelessness such as shelters and training apartments.

The deinstitutionalisation is strongly promoted as a strategy to improve access to services available in the local communities. Housing First is widely spread as a priority in strategies and also in regional tenders for EU funding as a programme for people with the most complex needs. The activists are still advocating for HF to become a transformative paradigm for national policy to end homelessness.